Challenge
by CloudyBlueSkies
Summary: Kyouya’s oldest friend, Kichida Emiko is a girl who sees what she wants, goes after it and lets nothing get in her way. So what happens when Emiko puts her sights on a certain stoic host club member who is the only one who doesn’t pay her any mind at all?
1. The Game Begins

**So this is my first go at it ^-^ hope you enjoy. And if you didn't already know, I don't own any of these wonderful characters of the host club.**

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Two months until graduation. Mitsukuni and Takashi were counting down the days until they could no longer join their friends in the Host Club Activites. They were relishing the time they had left, the months they had left.

There were no girls coming in today, that's why everyone (except Kyouya, of course) was surprised when a girl walked in the door. She wasn't wearing the schools uniform, but a pair of jeans (unacceptable!), a simple blue shirt and a black jacket. Her brown hair framed her face in soft waves and her blue eyes were alight with an unknown emotion as she walked boldly into the third music room. She didn't look full Japanese, one of her parents must have been foreign.

"Ootori Kyouya, do you avoid me on purpose?" She demanded of the Shadow King.

Kyouya grinned evily, "Kichida Emiko-san, a pleasure as always."

"I called you this morning and you failed to answer your phone, you never fail to answer your phone. It makes me feel unimportant." She sniffled.

She put on a good show, as always, Kyouya thought, "You called at five this morning, when most deccent people are asleep. I was planning on calling you back after this."

She waved her hand, as if brushing the thought away, "You should have known that I'd come and find you. Now don't be rude, introduce me."

Kyouya proceeded to introduce Emiko to the rest of the members of the Host Club to her. She greeted them all with the same friendly smile she gave everyone new she met. They all seemed charmed with her, except Mori-sempai, but Kyouya could rarely tell what he thought of people. He knew that eventually their opinions of her would change, if they could see through her act. She manipulate them to get what she wanted, she was an unstoppable force in that area. Kyouya had learned from the best.

"Are you going to school here now Emiko-chan?" Kaoru asked.

She smiled widely, "Please, call me Emi. I start tomorrow as a second year." She hung her head, "I only hope that I can keep up because I'm just now starting two months before the year ends."

Tamaki fell head over heels for it, "Oh Emi-chan, I will tutor you!"

"That's a nice offer, Souh-san, but Kyouya already promised he would. Right Kyou-san?"

"Of course." He said demurly, 'and her game begins'.

"Kichida, is that the family in theatre?" Hikaru asked.

Emiko nodded earnestly, "My fathers' family runs theatres, produces, writes and directs plays within those theatres and around the world as well. We've been doing it for a hundred and fifty years. We also are in the music indrustry, with recording studios and record labels around the world."

Everyone started pelting her with questions, except Kyouya and Mori, they stayed silent through the whole ordeal.

When the bells that signaled six o' clock, she frowned, a planted frown of course, "I'm sorry boys, but I'm afraid I have other engagements to attend and I must get home before my maid fries me alive." And she left graciously.

Kyouya smiled to himself when she was gone, as always, when she left the ones she left were chattering about her. Her manners, her clothes, her hair, everything about her had left impressions on them they wouldn't soon forget. Hunni and Mori were the only ones that seemed unaffected, Hunni munching on cakes and Mori watching over him. Hunni had asked her questions when she was here, but now that she was gone, he must be contemplating quietly. No doubt Mori-sempai's silence and uninterest had bothered her, but what she was going to do about it was something Kyouya did not know. No one ever ignored her, to his knowledge at least. 'Lets see who makes the first move.' He thought.

Emi slid gracefully into the back of the limosine. Her encounter with the Host Club had been boring. Nothing exciting, no challenges, all questions had been all too easy to answer, and she had stayed flat on her feet the whole time. How incredibly boring the school was going to be without a challenge of some sort. Of course, that was just one club in the whole school. Maybe she could stir things up a bit with a Hostess Club. No, too easy. Acting as more than a friend towards Kyouya? No, she already did that. She harbored none of those kinds of feels for the youngest Ootori.

As her mind wandered though different ideas, her thoughts kept coming back to the only member of the Host Club that had been completely silent the whole time she'd been there. Morinozuka Takashi, Mori as his friends called him. He was your average tall, dark and handsome, with the inevtably interesting twist of being stoical. That was a true challenge. Cracking the shell of Morinozuka Takashi, make him notice her, see what's inside of his head, heart and soul, doing something no one had done before. The challenge was set, and her move was first.

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**So I hope you enjoyed, it's kinda short now, but it's just to introduce Emi really and set up the story. Please click that lovely button in the middle of the screen to review!**

**~Cloudy :)**


	2. Crossed Heart

**Here's the second chapter. I don't own the characters, as always.**

By her first day of school, Emi had the first few stages of her plan laid out. Start out small then get more extravagant with the next two months. But she doubted she would need that much time, if she tried hard enough she'd probably have him cracked by the end of the month. Of course, she had to plan for delays, perpetual illnesses, side projects and such. Not to mention he was a class above her so that made her window of opportunities limited to lunch and club time.

Kyouya greeted her at the entrance to the school, "What are you doing here?" she asked as sweetly and innocently as possible.

"I'm the class representative so it's my responsibility to show you around." He noted she was wearing the girls uniform, he'd thought she'd refuse to wear it, he knew how she hated yellow, but he didn't coment on it.

"Oh Kyo, you don't have to do it just because I'm your friend."

"Hn." He said, walking with her to class, wondering if he should ask about her plans for Mori. He noticed her eyes darting from side to side, looking for someone, "Looking for someone?" he asked.

She smiled, "I noticed Tamaki-san wasn't here, isn't he the other class representative?"

'Emi-san's done her research.' He thought approvingly, "He's busy at the moment." He'd begun to notice his friends' odd behavior; somehow Emi had gotten wind of it. He also knew Emi could care less about Tamaki; she was looking for someone else. But who? He had a vague idea, but he needed confirmation.

"Is this our class?" she asked, when Kyouya paused outside a door.

"It says 'Class two' doesn't it?" he said with a smirk.

Through the rest of the morning, she charmed her classmates all too easily. The girls were hanging on her every word. They were so interested in the fact that she'd been in America for the eight months. The boys hung around her, pulled in by her irresistible aura. She grinned inwardly, if Morinozuka was anything like these boys, this would be easier than she'd thought. But that wouldn't be challenging at all.

"Were you staying with your mother in California?" a girl asked.

That was new question, "Yes, in her mansion in Beverly Hills." She replied, not letting anything show through her screens. Her parents had divorced when she was only eight and alternated years between them. She envied her brothers who were old enough to be out of their parents' custody.

"And your brothers?" the girl inquired further.

Was she a mind reader or something? "They're too old to do that. Nineteen and twenty-three." She said thoughfully.

"Do you talk to them a lot?"

Kyouya had been listening in, just a change in tone and she had carefully manuvered the conversation away from her parents. Smoothly, as usual.

When the bell rang for lunch, Emi grinned, 'This is were the fun begins.'

She followed her classmates to the lunch room, "Come eat with us Emi-chan." A boy said with a smile.

Emi gave him her most gracious apologetic smile, "I'm sorry Kenta-san, but I promised Kyouya I would eat with him."

Kenta looked dissapointed at the least, but he told her it was okay, maybe next time. Emi, of course, had promised Kyouya no such thing nor had Kyouya asked her to sit with them. But he knew better than to go against her, so he just went along with it.

She got her food and slid into the seat beside Kyouya. On his other side was Tamaki, silently eating his food, only talking when someone (mostly girls) came over and talked to him.

After she sat down, Takashi and Mitsukuni sat down across from Kyouya and Tamaki. Emi noted that, then smiled, "Good afternoon, Mitsukuni-sempai, Takashi-sempai."

"You can call us Hunni and Mori-sempai too Emi-chan." Hunni said.

"Thank you very much Mitsukuni-sempai, but I prefer to call sempai's by their birth names."

She told him with a sweet smile. If Takashi noticed anything she said, he gave no notice of it. 'Try harder.' She thought. "So Mitsukuni-sempai, what are your plans after you graduate?" she asked.

"I'm going into the science and technology facility at the University. Takashi is going into the Jurisprudence facility."

"Theory and philosophy of law, hm. Are you planning on becoming a lawyer or something of the sort?"

"I'm not sure."

She visibly frowned, "Surely you have some idea."

"No."

Kyouya could feel her annoyance, even when it didn't appear on her face. Takashi remained emotionless, unaffected by anything Emi had said, he didn't even seem thoughtful about the fact that he wasn't sure what he was going to do after the University. 'Maybe he's the type that doesn't plan ahead very far. Not everyone is a planner like you Emi.' She scolded herself silently, 'Open up options!' So she talked to Mitsukuni the whole time, learning and storing everything he told her.

When lunch was over, Emi was angry that she had made no progress on Takashi at all. She waited patiently through the rest of her classes until club time. But her plan wasn't to request Takashi and Mitsukuni, no, she was going to play to her strengths. Literally.

"Oh Kyouya!" she sang as she floated into the third music room before the host club opened that day. "I have a proposition for you!"

'This can't be good.' "What is it?"

She grinned, "I want to play the piano for you."

"Tamaki can play the piano."

"But Kyouya," Kaoru said, "if Tamaki plays the piano, then he can't have any guests."

Tamaki came over, "Of course you can play the piano for us Emi-chan!" he hugged her and spun her around, "Oh my lovely older daughter is just like her father and can play the piano!"

"Mori-sempai, he's strangling her." Haruhi called out.

Two strong hands grabbed her waist and pulled her out Tamaki's grasp, then set her down a few feet away, "Thank you." She told him with a sweet smile. He simply nodded, not saying a word. She turned to Tamaki, "So I may play the piano?"

He sniffled a little bit, hurt that his 'daughters were acting so cruel to him, "Yes, you may."

"Fantastic." She said lightly, "Excuse me." She said, sidestepping around Takashi to make her way to the grand piano tucked away in the corner. She inspected it, "Impressive, a Steinway Tricentenial, a very good piano." She slid onto the bench and opened the lid. Smiling, she slid her finger lightly across the keys, not making a sound. 'But that's not the purpose of a piano.' She thought, 'It's for making noise, the best kind of noise there is. . . music.' She started out simple, the fifth arrangement of Mozarts Fifth Symphony. The music consumed her, filling her every pore, and for an hour, she was able to forget all about her plans.

But that was only an hour, then she was plunged back into the real world; and it was all Kyouya's fault. "So how much do you want to be paid?" he asked when the last girl left.

She'd still been playing when he asked, so for dramatic effect, she hit a bad chord, "Kyou, do you really expect me to accept payment for doing something I love?"

"You're doing this for a reason, money seems the most logical one."

"Listen." She lowered her voice so only he could hear, "I'm doing this for free, something you want, no questions asked, that's what I want. Deal?"

It was all too simple, "Deal, but whatever you're doing, it had better not interfere with anything important involving the Host Club."

"Nothing important." She said, crossing her heart.

Of course, he didn't believe her. She'd crossed her heart before and been lying.

That night Emi lay in bed thinking. She hated this room, it didn't feel like her, none of her things were here. Her guitar, her piano, her CDs, her records, her play-bills, masks, and other things she had collected throughout the last eight years of living part-time in America were back in her mother's house. She had no idea how long she was going to be here, a few months, a year, two years. It was all uncertain. She'd been at her moms for eight months the last time; a year and a half at her dads before that. This uncertain custody of her had gone on for eight years. 'He's had such a stable home.' She thought jealously of Takashi, 'Never wondering when you were going to be shipped off again. . ." and she gently fell into sleep.

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**And that's it for now. Please, oh please, click the review button, all comments, suggestions, advice, good or bad is welcome**

**~Cloudy ^-^**


	3. Abandonment

**I don't own Ouran High School Host Club Characters.**

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This was getting frustrating.

More frustrating than anything she'd ever done before.

How could a boy, any boy, resist all attempts to gain his attentions?

Nothing. That's what she'd gotten, nothing. Emi hadn't worn that hideous yellow _thing _they called the girls uniform since her first day a week ago. Instead, she reverted to her normal clothes, pants or skirts of varying color with a completementary colored shirt and her black leather jacket. Her female classamtes were almost horrified, but the boys didn't seem put off. They saw her as something different than the girls they saw everyday.

But they weren't the center of her attention. He was, Takashi Morinozuka, the impossible boy. She had learned nothing deeper about him than what the rest of the Host Club (mostly Kyouya) had already told her. She wanted to hear him talk, say more than a few words in a day, see him smile, instead of that same stoic look he had on all of the time. She never missed an opportunity to talk to him and ask him questions, but he rarely gave her much of an answer to anything. It was time to step up her game.

After club time was over that day, they were disscussing plans for a little getaway from the stress of school and all that. Haruhi was refusing to go anywhere with them, saying something always happened when she went places with them. Mitsukuni was also saying that he and Takashi wanted to stay in Tokyo because they were so close to graduating.

"But Mitsukuni-sempai, you're this close, why don't you take sometime off?" Emi said, "When you get into the University, you aren't going to have much time off at all."

Tamaki hugged her, "Oh my daughter! Sprouting such wisdom from her young mouth!"

While Emi tried to detach herself from Tamaki's grip, the twins turned to the upperclassmates, "She's right," Kaoru said, "You guys won't get as much time with us after you graduate."

"So why not spend as much time with us as you can?" Hikaru added.

They both started pestering them, and Mitsukuni looked like he was about to give in, but Takashi showed no signs of leaning towards going. She expected nothing less. She knew if Mitsukuni went, Takashi would have to go. But the twins couldn't go that extra inch to make him say he was going to come. Emi finally detached herself from Tamaki with the help of Haruhi and went up to Mitsukuni, "Please Mitsukuni-sempai? It's the first time I'd be coming with you all and it just wouldn't be the same without the whole Host Club." She even added a few sniffles in for affect.

That pushed it, "Of course I'll come Emi-chan!" he said, "You're right, it is your first time out with us, it has to be special!"

"What about you Takashi-sempai?" she turned to him, "Please." She said, drawing it out.

"Yes." He said indifferently.

Then she turned on Haruhi, "That means you too Haruhi-chan."

Haruhi sighed, "Whatever you say Emi-sempai."

She clapped her hands together excitiedly, "Fantastic. Where are we going?" To be honest, when they'd been disscussing where to go, she hadn't been listening.

"Since Mori-sempai, Hunni-sempai and Haruhi want to stay in Tokyo, I, as King of the Host Club, say we shall go to a different commoner department store!" Tamaki said.

"Even after what happened last time?" Haruhi asked.

"That can be avoided." Tmaki said, "If Kyouya doesn't dissapear on us again."

"If I remember right, you were the ones that abandoned me." Kyouya said.

Emi went over and patted him on the head, "Don't worry Kyo, I won't let them abandon you."

**-Flashback-**

**He looked around the room. A five-year-old Kyouya Ootori didn't know what to think of this. His mother had been invited to an afternoon tea with a few other women of high standings who also had children. He didn't really want to be here, there were six other children here, but they were out on the lawn. He was too shy to go with them.**

"**Kyouya dear, why don't you go with the other children?" his mother said.**

**He looked up at her, "I want to stay with you mother."**

"**You don't want to play with them, they're going to be your classmates some day."**

**One of the other ladies smiled at him, "Why don't you go find my Emi, she's always fun."**

"**Go on." His mother scooted him away.**

**Kyouya reluctantly went out on the lawn too, scouting for the one called Emi. He spotted her, a ways away from the other children, squatting next to a clump of bushes, poking at something on the ground. "Hello." He said cheerfully.**

**She looked up at him and sniffled, "Hi." She said sadly, with a few tears in her eyes.**

"**Why are you crying?" he asked, sitting next to her.**

"**No reason." She sniffled.**

"**You can't just cry for no reason."**

"**I can."**

"**There must be some reason."**

**She looked at him, tears gone, "Listen, I'm trying to get my moms attention, okay? You're ruining it."**

**He looked back at their mothers, the woman who was Emi's mother was laughing lightly, but seemed to take no notice of her daughters distress. "Why?"**

"**Because."**

"**Because what?"**

"**If I keep crying she might notice and come over, and then we can go home. I want to go home."**

"**Why don't you just tell her?"**

"**Because."**

"**Is that all you can say?"**

"**It's all you need to know. Now go away."**

**So he stood up and left her alone, going to the other children. "Isn't she weird?" one of the girls asked.**

"**Yeah." One of the boys said, "We don't like her very much."**

'**So this is why she wanted to go home.' He thought. "Did you make her cry?"**

**The eldest one there shrugged, he was about eight, "She did a little, but she was trying to get us to sing a song to surprise our mothers. We didn't know the song she wanted to sing because it was in English. She's not full Japanese, you know. We told her she didn't belong because of that."**

"**Oh." And he didn't say anything else to them, just turned around and headed back to Emi. "I know why you want to go home." He told her.**

"**Hinako was my friend, before they turned her against me." She said quietly, "She abandoned me."**

**He smiled at her, "Don't worry, I won't abandon you." He told her.**

"**Friends?" she asked, holding out her hand.**

**Kyouya took it, "Friends."**

-End Flashback-

Kyouya new perfectly well why Emi had chosen those words, to remind him that no matter what she does, no matter what her reasons for coming on this excursion, he was still her friend and she _would_ pull him into this and _would_ put some of the blame on him. "Thank you Emiko."

"No problem."

If there was one thing both of them were sure of, tomorrow would be interesting. More for Emi than Kyouya. She was going in without a plan, she was going to wing it. The prospect was somewhat exciting, but something about the ususal excitement was gone. What was it? What was it. . .

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**What was it?**

**I guess you'll find out.**

**Sooner or later.**

**~Cloudy 3**


	4. Nothing More

**Here's chapter 4! No, I don't own the characters.**

"Good morning father." Emi said, sitting down at the breakfast table, "You too Kimi." she kissed her stepsister on the top of her head. Her father gave little acknowledgement that she was there, nose buried in a newspaper.

"Mimi!" the one and a half year old cooed happily.

Her stepmother, Tanaka, watched her with cold dark eyes, but said nothing. Emi was well aware that her stepmother did not like her at all, and that if her father wasn't there, she might have cooly told her not to touch her child.

Emi hated her just the same. She was cold and unfriendly, but of course, her father noticed nothing of it and would hear nothing of it.

"Good morning." Her younger, older brother Kanaye said dramatically, kissing the baby and Emi on the top of the head. He was nineteen and in his second year at the university in business. If there was one thing Emi didn't envy about him living in Japan all the time, was him living with their stepmother all of the time. He had the same blue eyes as her, but his hair was a few shades darker brown than her light brown. "Any plans today saiai imouto*?" he asked, mixing his English and Japanese.

"Hey baka, don't mix languages." She told him.

"But darling, you know you do it too."

"Only to you sweetheart." She patted his cheek affectionatly. Their stepmother looked at them with a mixture of horror and anger. Emi thought that by now she'd be used to it, they only acted incestously to make her angry. She was stuck up and thought they acted unacceptably towards each other.

"Hiroshi. . ." Tanaka said uncertainly.

"Cut it out you two."

"Yes father." They said solemnly.

After a few minutes of silence, except for the mumblings of little Kimi eating her food, Emi finally spoke up, "Acually I do have plans Kanaye."

"Took you long enough to answer my question. What are they?"

"I'm going out with Kyouya-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Kanaye started choking on his tea. Emi folded her arms and made no move to help him, as did no one else at the table. He did this quite often. When he was done coughing he asked, "What?"

"Are you done yet?"

"Yes."

"Then what I was going to say, was I was going out with Kyouya and the rest of the Host Club today."

Her father finally looked up, "And where are you going with all those . . . boys?"

"I'm not sure father." She said.

But Kichida Hiroshi was no fool, "So you're just going with them?"

"Yes, but no need to worry dear father, there is, in fact, another girl coming along with us. Not to mention Kyouya, and you know him." Emi had kept it to herself that she knew Haruhi was a girl; as Kyouya had noted earlier, she had done her research.

He smiled, "Of course." And he went back to reading his newspaper with an amused smile on his face.

Emi was slowly noticing a change in her father. For all Tanaka's faults, Emi couldn't deny that she made her father happy. That, or business was going really really good. Either way, her father had rarely smiled before now.

She silently finished her breakfast, kissed Kanaye and Kimi one last time, even kissed her father on the cheek. He deserved it for smiling. Tanaka got a glare as she walked out the door to finish getting dressed before Kyouya picked her up.

She pulled a blue hat over her hair just as Kyouya sent the text to signal his limo was pulling into the driveway. She was satisfied with her appearance. She looked normal, skirt, shirt, hat, boots. Only the ends of her hair were visible under her hat. It was her favorite hat, a knitted beanie from a friend in California, Jenna Mendoza. She hadn't heard from Jenna since she'd moved back here. . . . Kyouya texted her again, saying he was waiting. She shook her head to clear the thoughts of her lost friend. It was no big deal.

"Thank you." She told the driver who had opened to door for her before sliding in the limo. "Good morning Kyouya." She said.

"Same to you Emiko." He said, typing on his laptop.

"Emiko? Formal today?"

He didn't say anything until the limo stopped again, before either of them got out, Kyouya leaned over to her, "I figured out what you're doing."

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? Then what have you-" but before she could finish, the door opened and the twins slid into the limo. Kyouya leaned back when they got in, but it didn't escape their notice.

"Oh? What's this?" Kaoru asked.

"We didn't interrupt anything, did we?" Hikaru asked.

"No." Kyouya told them, adjusting his glasses. They looked at Emi, who shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. 'Hm.' Kyouya thought, 'Somehow they trust her word over mine. That's the exact opposite of what they probably should do.'

"Oh Kyo, who else are we picking up?" Emi asked.

"Just Haruhi."

Emi couldn't deny that she liked the younger girl. She was level-headed and smart. Not to mention she'd gotten Takashi to save her from Tamaki. When they got to Haruhi's apartment block, people were staring at the limo. "Here we are." Hikaru announced, getting out, followed by Kaoru, Emi then Kyouya, pulling up the back. Tamaki, Mitsukuni and Takashi were already there. Tamaki was in tears, blubbering about Haruhi or something. "She's gone!" was the only comprehensible thing they could get out of him.

"It seems Haru-chan left house early this morning and her father said she was at the library, but we checked there and she's not there." Mitsukuni translated, "We might have to go without her."

"We've done thise without Haruhi before, we can do it again." Tamaki said confidence, over his worry about Tamaki. He came up to Emi and put his hands on her shoulders, "I hope that your hopes of the whole Host Club coming along aren't too ruined Emi-chan."

Emi put on a brave face, "I don't think they are Tamaki-san, I'll probably survive."

"That's my brave Emi-chan!" he hugged her, but in a show of surprising restraint, let her go. Emi wasn't the only one who was noticing that Tamaki was acting a little different of late, but Emi was pretty sure it was just a phase.

So they moved out again. Emi could tell why Haruhi had dissapeared so she didn't have to come on this trip. They were embarrasing to go places with. They had no sense of decency not to show off. It was okay to show off to other rich people, but normal people don't care for it. That was rule number one she'd learned going to California public school.

**-Flashback-**

**"Rule number one kiddo." The older boy said, "That is public school, don't tell everyone you're rich, you show it off you'll end up with friends who will dump you like a hot potato if there's nothin in it for them. Be yourself; bring friends home only after you're sure they like you for you."**

**An eleven-year-old Emi widened her eyes, "So normal people don't like rich people?" She had only gone to private school before this where everyone was on equal status.**

**"Some people do, but they only really like your money. If you want to be a good person, don't showit off."**

**She beamed, "Thank you Eric-san!"**

**He ruffled her hair, "No problem kiddo."**

**-End Flashback-**

Eric Sutherland had been her neighbor in California. He was six years older than her and her first crush. Then he'd broken her heart a year later by going away and joining the army. Now he was married to his high school sweet heart. But Eric was right and these guys had little or no clue what they were doing. That fact distressed her, but she showed no signs of it.

"Here we are." Hikaru said for the second time that day.

Emi followed them around for about an hour before she got bored. So she silently slipped away in the crowd. Sometimes even her personal challenges got over ruled by perpetual boredness. Nothing was interesting enough really, so she paused at a small flower store, talking to the owner about business.

"For you." A voice behind her said. She turned around to see a young man holding out a blue flower, "It matches your eyes."

"Thank you." She said, tucking it into one of the gaps in her hat by her ear, the flower looked like it was part of the hat that way.

"You look beautiful that way." He told her, "My name is Yamada Ichiro."

Emi returned the smile, "Kimura Emiko, but you may call me Emi if you like."

"Of course, Emi. Now tell me, what is a beautiful girl like you doing here alone?"

Now this was trouble. Emi had heard of the Yamada family, Yakuza, all of them. Not a good family to get involved with. It's a good thing she was smarter than to tell him her real last name. "Actually. . ." she paused, thinking quick, she saw a tall figure above the crowd, obviously Takashi and he was walking in her direction. "I'm not here alone. Oh there you are darling." She caught Takashi and hooked her arm into his. He seemed a little surprise, "This is my friend Takashi, he's been showing me around since I'm new in town. Takashi this is Ichiro, he gave me this flower."

He seemed to take the hint, "That's nice."

She turned back to Ichiro, "It was nice to meet you, but we must be going."

"You too." He said, eyeing them suspisciously, "I have business to attend to as well." And he walked off.

Emi waited until he had disapeared out into the crowd, "Thank you, you got me out of that one."

"You're welcome."

She didn't unhook her arm, "Lets go find the others."

"No need." Mitsukuni said, appearing by Takashi's side, "I found them."

"EMI-CHAN!" Tamaki cried, hugging her, "We've looked everywhere for you!"

"We almost sent out a request over the intercom." Kaoru said with concern, but he as well as everyone else noticed her and Takashi's arm.

"Well there's no need to worry about me." She patted Takashi arm, "Takashi was watching over me."

But there was little emotional response. Emi expected nothing less, and it irritated her, as always.

By the time Kyouya dropped her off, she was stewing with irriatation. She paced her room, hands behind her back, considering. It had only been a week, she couldn't give in yet. Yamada Ichiro had graduated last year, and had probably known Takashi. If he was determined enough, he could cause damage. But how determined could he be to get her if they had just met today and only talked for a total of two minutes? Men would go a long way for beauty. Takashi wouldn't always be around to save her like that.

She didn't want to give up, but she was starting to doubt her reasons. Sure he was tall. . . handosme. . . mysterious. . . caring. . . pretty much anything a girl would want in a guy. Except the no talking thing, but somehow that added to his charm. So then why was she doing this? Nine words in one sentence minimum, that's one thing, the only thing really. It was proving difficult. 'It's kind of silly. . .' she thought, but shook her head. 'It's a challenge, nothing more. Nothing more. . ."

* * *

***saiai imouto means beloved little sister**

**And for my reviewers who have asked questions, they will be answered.**

**Eventually.**

**~Cloudy**


	5. Not Knowing

**Well, here's chapter. . .5 yeah that's right, 5. I don't own the characters. sadly enough**

"A party?" Emi said skeptically.

"Yes, and you're going." Her father said.

"But father, why? Ryo or Kanaye are your heirs, not me. I don't see why I have to go."

Kichida Hiroshi raised an eyebrow at his daughter, he knew she hated parties; crowds bothered her, she prefered to be alone. "It's for the family, family comes first, you must sacrifice for the good of the family."

Emi set her hands on his desk, "And what sacrifices have you made for the 'family' father?"

He knew she hated the divorce and unsteady custody agreement. But she what didn't know. . . "Emi, you will be there, that's final." As she turned to leave, "And brush up on your Mozart, just in case."

Emi smiled, he was just trying to make things better for her. It had been two weeks since their little trip to the commoner mall. Emi had made no progress and it her angry. She had one month to go and time was running out.

Boring, as usual. A smile here, a polite response there, thinking the exact opposite of the compliments she was giving. All in the game of the rich and easily offended. The game was the same in all countries. Suck up and it gets you far, even with normal people. It was a lesson everyone learned at one point. The only reason her family was there was because Yuzuru Souh was fond of theatre, and regularly attended both traditional and wester style plays put on at theatres owned by her family around Tokyo.

"Kimura Emiko, huh?" an all too familiar voice said.

Emi turned around, Yamada Ichiro. 'Fantastic.' "Yamada Ichiro, right?" she asked.

"Yes, Kichida Emiko."

"Ah, so you have seen through my previous lies." Rule number two, if you're caught in a lie, don't keep lying. Admit the truth, it makes people trust you.

"Don't worry, I understand. Introducing yourself to a strange man is often scary. But hopefully we aren't strangers anymore."

This wasn't your average man trying to charm a younger woman, he had an ulterior motive. But then, when didn't a man tyring to charm any woman have another motive, "Well then, Ichiro, if I may call you that, may I ask what you and your family is doing here?"

"Not that my permission would have stopped you from asking but since you already asked, my family, on the surface, is involved in hotels and several other business's similar to the Souh family."

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." She said, "The Souh's must believe in that ancient policy."

"My family does as well."

She raised an eyebrow, "Does that make us enemies Ichiro?"

"What does your family believe?" he asked.

'Interesting, at last.' "My family doesn't have enemies. Plays and music make people happy, that doesn't often cause harsh feelings."

"Then what about personally, not family related?"

"A few, possibly."

"Myself, perhaps?"

"I don't know you well enough to hate you."

He smiled, "Would you like to?"

She returned his smile, "I believe that this isn't the proper way to go about things."

"The proper way is-"

Kanaye walked up, "Emi." He interrupted Ichiro, "Dad wantsto talk to you."

"Okay. Alas Ichiro, our time has come to part from our fascinating conversation and enlightening information exchange, but a higher power has called me onward."

"I hope you will survive within this crowd of bimbos."

"Ichiro, such things are dangerous to say." She stage whispered.

"Danger is my middle name. Farewell Kichida Emiko, I hope we meet again."

Kanaye practically dragged her away, "What were you doing?" he whispered.

"I was having a fasinating conversation and an enlightening information exchange with Yamada Ichiro."

"He's yakuza, you know that."

"I do know that, and did you know that their superficial businesses are similar to the Souh businesses?"

"Yes, that's why they're here. You shouldn't be socializing with him."

She snorted, "I may 'socialize' with whomever I choose. Now what does dad want with me?"

"He mentioned you play the piano and Souh-san mentioned so did Tamaki and they want to see who's better."

"Fasinating. But not as fasinating as my previous conversation."

They approached the two men and Tamaki. Emi half expected Tamaki to jump her as soon as he saw her, but he stayed at his fathers' side. Of course, he would act different with his over-bearing grandmother watching over him.

"So this is your daughter?" Yuzuru Souh asked, "I haven't seen her since she was eight! She's grown into quite a young woman."

"Thank you Souh-san, you flatter me." She said.

"I live to flatter." He kissed her hand, then straightened, "Now, let's get this little wager of ours in motion. Ladies first." He motioned to the grand piano."

Emi sat down, "I'll keep it simple. Mozart's '_Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman_"'. I'll shorten it to the first five variations."

"Twinkle, twinkle little star." Kanaye muttered under his breath.

When she was done, Tamaki didn't say a word, just sat at the piano and played. Emi didn't recognize the song. Tamaki must have composed it himself. When he was done, she turned to Yuzuru Souh, "Souh-san, I'm sorry, but I forfeit. Tamaki has me beat."

Souh laughed, "You are humble Emi-chan. Since she forfeit, I believe I won the wager Hiroshi."

"Emi." Her father groaned.

"I hope you didn't lose too much father."

"No, but I lost a little bit of my family pride." He said mournfully.

Emi regarded her father carefully. He hadn't acted like this since before he divorced her mother. He was an actor, he used to over-dramatize everything, and say things just to make his children laugh. Emi wondered why he'd changed after the divorce. But now he was back to the way he had been eight years ago. It made her smile, knowing her father was back.

She didn't see Ichiro the rest of the party. That made her dissapointed and relieved, dissapointed because he was about the only interesting person here, and relieved because if she started to like him too much, that family was dangerous. 'After all, dangerous is Ichiro's middle name.' she thought with a laugh.

"Hello Emi-chan." A familiarly sweet voice said.

_'More surprises.'_ "Hello Mitsukuni-sempai. Are any other members of the host club here?"

"Takashi and Kyouya are around here somewhere."

_'Kyouya didn't tell me he was coming.'_ She thought reproachfully, _'We'll have to talk later.'_ "Takashi left you alone?"

"Yes, he's been acting strangely."

That surprised Emi, he hadn't seemed any different to her. But she had been at Ouran only a month so she didn't know the host club as well as they knew each other.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Ichiro. "May I have this dance?" he asked, slightly glancing at Mitsukuni.

Emi saw Mitsukuni make a face that said he didn't like Ichiro. Did no one like this poor guy? "Of course. Please excuse us Mitsukuni-sempai." And she took Ichiro's hand. As they started to dance, Ichiro smiled, "I believe we have a conversation to finish."

"You mean the fascinating one?"

"Yes, that one. I believe we left off at the proper way to go about things."

"Ah yes." She said, "You don't go about things the proper way."

"Well you didn't seem like a proper girl so I figured you wouldn't mind much."

Emi made an offended noise, "I'm from a high-ranking family mister."

"Then I'm afraid it was my mistake Kichida-chan." He said graciously.

"I believe you can be forgiven under the circumstances."

"Thank you, Kichida-chan."

"Emiko please."

"As you wish Emiko-chan."

He was a charmer she decided, but nothing more.

A figure tapped Ichiro on the shoulder, "Mind if I cut in?" Kyouya asked.

"I do, but I guess I'll have to let her go. Fate keeps cutting in dear Emiko." And he dissapated into the crowd.

Kyouya started dancing with her, "What were you doing?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" she asked him right back, "I was having a conversation, what's so wrong with that?"

"It's not the conversation part, it's the Yamada Ichiro part."

"He's not that bad."

"He's just like you."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"More than you know." Kyouya told her, looking at her.

Emi was at a loss for words. She didn't say anything else for the rest of the song. "Thank you for the dance Kyouya." And she walked away.

_'What did he mean?'_ she thought, _'Being me isn't a bad thing.'_ She thought, _'It's not like I'm a bad person.'_ She walked out onto a balcony just to run into Takashi, looking out at the stars. _'Opportunity strikes.'_ She thought, forgetting about her deeper thoughts. She stood next to him, didn't say a word, just stood and looked up at the stars too.

"Pretty." She said after awhile.

"Yes." He said.

"Takashi. Does the Yamada family have something against the Haninozuka family?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"It's between them, not you."

_'Four words short.' _"Okay." She let that part drop, "You don't like him either."

"No."

"He's not that bad, he's polite and-"

"He's worse than you know." He looked down at her and left.

_'Is five words his limit or something?'_ she thought. _'More than you know, worse than you know. What do I not know?'_

_

* * *

_

**_Well that's it for now. I don't know when the next update will be, I'm packed on previous commitments. But I'll have the next chapter up a-sap._**

**~Cloudy**


	6. Just Cards

**So here's chapter 6. I don't own these characters**

Emi lay on her bed, swinging her feet off the end. Kyouya, Mitsukuni and Takashi had skillfully kept her out of contact with Ichiro the rest of the party. She gave them credit and (mostly) understood where they were coming from, even if she didn't like it. She got up and searched through her drawers to find her favorite purple pajamas, when she found a pair of socks rolled around something. The socks were important to her, knee-high purple and gray plaid, they held quite a few memories for her.

It was what was inside surprised her even more. Her deck of Tarot cards. She hadn't seen these in forever. Her mother had given them to her as a birthday present, the cards were from Las Vegas. She pulled them out, 'lets see what the future holds.' She pulled the little booklet that had the card readings on it and the different types of spreads. With a laugh, she chose the Relationship spread, it provides insight into the interaction between two people or entities. She thought she would see what was between her and Ichiro. But the real thing she wanted to know was about her and Takashi.

It was a four card spread, starting with 'how you see yourself.'

It was the **Ten of Wands (Oppression)**. It meant Excessive pressures, striving to meet a goal or a certain level or position, possibly using power for selfish ends.

The second card represented 'how you see your partner.' While she hardly saw Takashi as her 'partner', but he was the other person in question.

It was the **Three of Wands (Virtue). **It meant Practical knowledge.

The third card represented 'how you feel about your partner.'

It was the **Three of Pentacles (Works).** It meant Great skill in trade or work; perfectioni; dignity; power.

The four card represented 'what stands between you and your partner'.

It was the **Page of Wands** which meant, a faithful and loyal person, trusted friend, a consistent person.

The fifth card represented 'how your partner sees you'.

It was the **The Moon** which meant deception; twilight; trickery; warning; false friends; selfishness; false pretenses; falling into a trap

The sixth and final card represented 'what your partner feels about you.

It was the **Two of Pentacles (Change)** which meant difficulty in launching new projects, new troubles, worry, concern

So it wasn't the ideal reading she had expected. Was Kyouya the one inbetween her and her goal? Did Takashi really see her that way? Did she see him that way?

Emi laughed at herself; she took these things too seriously sometimes. They were just cards and meant to be used for fun, nothing more. Of course, throughout the few years she'd had these cards, they had often been right, as much as they'd been wrong. But, they were still just cards. She yawned, found her pajamas, changed and crawled into bed. She left the cards where they were, she'd pick them up in the morning. . .

When she woke up, the cards had been neatly stacked in a pile on her dresser, along with a note from her maid telling her off about doing things like that. The maids knew that she didn't mind being told off, she embraced it, they just weren't confident doing it to her face, so they left notes. Emi had meant to pick them up when she woke up, but it was useless to tell the maid that. It was a Sunday, no school today, nothing else to do.

'Lets see what dear Kyouya is up to.' She thought. She called him, but only got his voicemail. It was seven in the morning, too early for him. "Kyouya, how dare you not answer the phone!" she practically yelled into the phone, "I trusted you to answer the phone but you failed! Actually, it's not all that important that you answer, I just wanted to see what you were doing today to general annoy and bother you this early in the morning and when you listen to this. See you tomorrow."

And she hung up. So Kyouya was out, he wouldn't be calling back, he'd be to annoyed, maybe she could pay Haruhi a surprise visit. Now might be a good time to reveal that she knew Haruhi was a girl.

Emi padded quietly down the hall to her brother's room. Kanaye was spread eagle on his bed, drooling. "Kanaye." She whispered, poking her brother in the head. He moved his arm over his head and mumbled a few unintelligible words. "Kanaye, it's me, Nori." Noriko was his girlfriend, third child of a wealthy buisness man whose wife enjoyed theatre.

A smile spread across his face, "Nori." He said happily.

"Let Emi borrow your motorcycle."

"Why?" he mumbled.

"She needs to use it."

"I'll tell her yes later." And he reached out for her, Emi just backed away and slipped out his door.

The scooter was what Kanaye used to get to the University. He didn't like taking the limo, so this was the arrangement he had with father. Emi knew how to ride it; it was small enough for her. She grabbed her brother's helmet and kick-started the bike.

As she wound through the busy streets of Tokyo, the thought about Takashi, the cards, Ichiro and Mitsukuni. The Yamada's and the Hanoinzuka's had some kind of rivalry that wasn't openly discussed. That was something worth finding out. She parked her bike in front of Haruhi's apartment. She drew less stares than if she had come in a limo, but there were still a few people that stared.

A woman answered the door to Haruhi's appartment, no, not a woman. Of course, her father worked at the local gay bar. How silly of her to forget. "Hello, you must be Ranka-san." She held out her gloved hand, "I'm Kichida Emiko, a friend of Haruhi's."

"Haruhi has a friend that is a girl?" he asked, sounding excitied, "This is wonderful! Come in, come in!"

Emi laughed, "Is she here?"

"Yes, here she is. Haruhi!"

Haruhi came out of the other room, "Emi-san, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you Haruhi-chan. I figure we need some girl's time after spending all that time with those boys."

"Kyouya told you then?"

"No, he doesn't know I know, but your disguise is little obvious." Honestly, Emi didn't know how the girls at Ouran didn't know, well they were airheads so it wasn't that surprising.

"Ah well, I was going to do homework today."

"Oh, that's fine, I'll keep you company."

Ranka interrupted, "At least I know I'm leaving my precious daughter in good hands. I have to go to work, be good while I'm gone." And he floated out the door.

"Sorry about him." Haruhi said.

"He's very charming." Emi said.

They spent a while talking while Haruhi did her homework. They discussed each Host Club member, Emi gained new insights into each of them, Haruhi was very observant.

"What about Takashi?"

"Mori-sempai? He protects Hunni so much we don't really know that much about him. He has a little brother, he'll be in high school next year. But. . ."

"But what?"

"When he's tired he gets. . . flirtatious."

"Flirtatious? How. . . flirtatious?"

"He called me cute."

Emi raised an eyebrow, "That's surprising."

"It was a little scary."

"Probably." She muttered. This was new information to her; information worth using. She would have to see how flirtatious Takashi got for herself.

When she left Haruhi's apartment, she had new respect for the younger girl. She was the perfect person to keep the Host Club in line, Kyouya had done well in choosing her. Not to mention she was easy to get information out of. Emi could see her as a friend, but what was the point when she could be shipped off at any moment?

* * *

**Sorry it's been such a long time ^-^ I've been really busy. Next chapter will be up as soon as I have more time.**

**~Cloudy**


	7. What ifs, Trenchcoats, Flowers, Oh My!

**So here's chapter 7. I don't own the characters, as always.**

She waited a week, waited for any sign of fatigue.

But she should have guessed that would be none, because there wasn't.

Oh, so frustrating.

Her time was running down. One month until graduation and her last chance. She felt jittery all the time, what if this just wasn't possible? What if he was emotionless? All these what ifs, which one was true?

What if this was impossible?

Emi shook her head to clear away the what ifs that plagued her. Just because normal people got tired a lot, doesn't mean that Takashi did. Of course, there was nothing normal about Ouran High School. Nothing she could see anyway.

"You cost me more money than you make." Kyouya told her, handing her some sheets on paper, "Here's some new music."

"Oh Kyou, thank you so very much." She took the music and sat down at the piano to practice before the Club opened. There was no title, no composer, but Emi had a pretty good idea who had written this. As she played through it, she knew she wasn't playing it right, there was only one person who could. "Tamaki-san, would you like to play?"

"You did very good Emi-chan." Tamaki said.

"But you'll do even better." And she stood up and pushed him onto the piano bench. At first, it didn't look like he was going to play, but he gingerly put his hands on the keys and started playing. As the music flowed through the air, Emi giggled and curtsied to Haruhi, "May I have this dance?"

"I don't know Emi-chan." She said nervously.

"That's okay if you don't want to Haru-chan." She said and asked Kaoru. He accepted and they danced around the 3rd music room. "You're a very good dancer Kaoru." She told him.

"Thank you Emi-sempai."

Some one tapped Kaoru on the shoulder, it was Kyouya, "May I cut in?"

Kaoru let go, "Of course."

Kyouya twirled her around, "So, what are you up to this time?"

"Nothing, for your information."

"You're always up to something Emi."

"Well not this time."

Someone tapped Kyouya on the shoulder. Could she not keep a partner for more than a minute? It didn't bother her too much, because her next partner was Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome himself. He put his left hand on her waist and took her right hand in his. This was differentthan dancing with Kyouya or Kaoru. This was easier. She stumbled a few times (on purpose) and he kept her up. They danced for the rest of the song, not saying one word. When the song was finished, she slipped out of his grasp, "Thank you for the dance Takashi-sempai, you are a fantastic dancer."

"Your welcome Emi-chan." He said, hints of a smile on his face.

'A smile? A little smile?' she thought, 'That's a new one. I wonder if he's a little tired. With my luck, he's probably not.'

Emi decided not to play Tamaki's song, it was meant for him to play, not her. Even if she hadn't conceded at the party last week, Tamaki still would have one. She still didn't know what the bet had been for. Kanaye would know, but he was still irritated that she'd 'borrowed' his bike. Of course, he had agreed to let her borrow it, but he was denying it.

After the last girl had left, Emi flexed her fingers, she was ready to get home and work on her homework. For once, she was done with schemes and lying for the day. She was tired and just wanted to get home and she had a pounding headache. The girls at this school seemed to give them to her. She rubbed her temples as she packed her bag.

"Are you okay Emi-chan?" Mitsukuni asked.

"Just fine Mitsukuni-sempai, I'm just ready to go home." She pulled out her phone to call her Jiro, her driver.

"Why don't Takashi and I give you a ride home?" Mitsukuni said.

Emi was surprised, "Well. . . I guess so. Sure, why not?"

"Yay!" he hopped off to Takashi.

Kyouya came up to her, "You left these." He handed her Tamaki's song.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Practice it, you might get better."

She scrunched up her nose at him, "Thanks, you help me build so much confidence."

"You're welcome." He said and walked away.

Mitsukuni walked up to her and pulled on her hand, "Lets go Emi-chan." And he pulled her out of the third music room, Takashi was following faithfully behind.

Mitsukuni chatted away throughout the ride, Takashi and Emi remained silent listening to him. "What about you Emi-chan?"

"I'm not sure yet Mitsukuni-sempai, probably something family business related. I'll just see where life takes me."

The car parked, "Thank you for the ride." And she got out

She made it to her room before she collasped on the bed, exhausted. 'Funny, I've spent so much time waiting for him to be exhausted, that I'm the one who ended up exhausted.'

* * *

_Emi dreamt of tall strangers in trenchcoats and hats that hid their faces. They were everwhere she turned, there was no escape. She turned around to run, but ran into another trenchcoat. "Who are you?" she yelled at the stranger, but the stranger said nothing. He just tipped his head up enough so that a streetlight showed a smile curling up on his mouth, but not the rest of his face. Then he walked off, leaving her alone on that street._

_She ran after him, but could never catch him. Rain poured down as she follwed him through the streets. He never went faster than a walking pace, but she couldn't reach him. When she caught up with him, he was standing next to a river. "Who are you?" she yelled at him._

_He turned around, that mocking smile still on his face, and he took a step up and backwards onto the ledge that separated the sidewalk from the river. He spread his arms out and fell backwards into the river. She rushed to the ledge, but there was no sign of him in the black water. As the rain poured on her face, she cried hard, but she didn't know why. Somehow she just knew, that she'd lost someone she'd loved._

* * *

She woke with a start. Her hand went to her cheek, and was surprised that it was wet with tears. It had been a long time since she had woken up like this, it was almost past her capability to remember. . .

When she woke up again that morning, Kanaye was sitting by her bed reading a book.

"Since when do you read?" she croaked, her throat sore.

"Ah, the dead lives. Congratulations, you've been dead to the world for eighteen hours."

"That long?"

"Yep, we decided to let you skip school for the day and let you sleep. You'd better go see dad and Kimi, they were worried about you."

A small knock came from the door, "Kanaye-san, is she still asleep?" a woman asked.

"She's awake now." He called.

Mira, Kimi's nanny, walked in with little Kichida Kimiko on her hip. "Mimi!" the two year old cooed. She had yet to figure out the 'e' sound, so she called Emi, Mimi.

Emi held out her arms to the two year old who went happily into them, "You awake." Kimi said.

"Yes." She ruffled her hair.

"You got flower."

"What?"

Kanaye rubbed the back of his neck, "I was going to tell you, but someone sent you a flower."

"A flower? Singular, flower?"

"Yes."

"Hm." Who would send a flower to her. Ichiro? Probably, but she hadn't heard from or seen him in two weeks.

Kanaye reached down beside his chair and brought up a single flower. It was pure white with the petal swirling into the center, "It's a gardenia."

Emi reached out and took it, "It's beautiful." She smelled it, "It smells wonderful." She held it out for Kimi to smell, she nodded in agreement and pulled it into her face.

"So sis, who would send you flowers?"

Emi shrugged, "I don't know."

"Well." Kanaye stood up, "You might as well get up and get a vase for that flower. See dad while you're at it."

She got up and handed Kimi to her nanny and went to find a vase.

Throughout the rest of the day, she kept receiving a single flower, each time it was a different one. By the end of the day she had a Snapdragon, Orange Mock, Azalea, Arbutus, Pink Camellia, Daffodil, Variegated Tulip, Bittersweet, White Chrysanthemum and a Striped Carnation. No doubt this was the oddest collection of flowers she'd ever seen. There was no rhyme or reason behind them either. Everyone who knew her knew that she wasn't too fond of pink or yellow, so why would they send a Pink Camellia and a Daffodil?

It didn't make sense to her. She spent all night thinking about it (she couldn't sleep) and the rest of the next day, but came up with no answers.

* * *

**Hey guys, a little note. I would love to reply to your reviews, but because of time-out problems I can't but as soon as it's fixed, I will start replying. ^-^**

**And that was an actual tarot reading, as soon as I saw it I was like 'YES! This is so going in there.'**

**~Cloudy**


	8. Now She Knows

**WARNING!**

**This chapter contains a completely unexpected turn of events**

**Read at your own risk of being surprised**

**I don't own the characters.**

The mystery of the flowers plagued her the next few days. Everyone noticed she seemed preoccupied, but didn't say anything to her; Kyouya told them not to, he'd talk to her when he could.

"Emi." Kyouya said after school.

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Math. . ." she looked down, "History I mean."

"Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine. What makes you think any different?"

Kyouya frowned, "You seem off."

Emi felt off too. She wasn't sleeping well anymore, she stayed up late thinking. She never felt like eating, just ate because she knew that was what she was supposed to do. Food was bland now. Something was wrong in her life, but she didn't know what. It was wearing her out thinking about it. The only time she felt normal was during club hours, and that was only part of the time then.

"I'm fine, Kyouya." She stood up and ruffled his hair, "Trust me." And she packed her bag and walked off.

But Kyouya didn't trust her, not by a long shot.

Emi was thinking about the flowers again when she got home. The odd arrangement still bothered her. She'd tried ever way to uncover the hidden message, but couldn't figure it out. There was only one option left. Back in the old days, every White Day, her father would get her mother single rose, because it meant 'I love you.' Each flower had its own meaning, and this was her last option.

After an hour of internet research, she came up with the meanings to the flowers.

Gardenia- You're lovely, Secret love

Snapdragon- Deception, Gracious Lady

Orange Mock- Deciet

Azalea- take care of yourself for me

Arbutus- thee only do I love

Pink Camellia- Longing for you

Daffodil-Unrequited love, you're the only one, the sun is always shining when I'm with you

Variegated Tulip- There's sunshine in your smile

Bittersweet- truth

White Chrysanthemum- truth

Striped carnation- no, refusal, sorry I can't be with you, wish I could be with you

Obviously, this person was in love with her, but something was holding him back. Something was making him say that he couldn't be with her. Whoever it was also saw her as deciteful and needing to tell the truth.

Who was he?

* * *

_She dreamt of walls. She was in a city, the same city as before, except this time it was surrounded by walls. All around her, the walls were falling down without a sound. Instead of running away, she was determined to find out what was causing the walls to fall. She climbed over the ruble to the parts that hadn't fallen yet._

_Walking along the still standing wall was the stranger in the trenchcoat. He dragged his fingers along the wall and it fell behind him. Emi went around buildings to get aheadof him. When only one secion of the wall was sleft up, she got in front of him._

_"Stop please." She begged._

_He just grinned and walked a few fett more foreward._

_"No." she stood in his way, "Why are you doing this?"_

_"This has to happen Emi. Your walls you've build have to come down." A familiar voice said._

_Her knees went weak and she dropped down, "Go on." She whispered. Tears fell as the last part of the wall came down. _

_The stranger put a handon her shoulder, "You don't have to lie to me Emi."_

_She looked up and for the briefest instant, saw his face._

When she woke up, she wasn't crying. How was it that her dreams were getting stranger and stranger the longer she was in Japan?

But this dream had told her something.

Everything made sense to her now.

She skipped school the next day; she needed time to think things over. She spent the day playing with Kimi until Tanaka came home and Emi dissapeared back into her room. She lay in bed, thoughts whirling around her head.

All the thoughts revolved around a certain boy.

* * *

When she went back to school, she told Kyouya that she couldn't come to Host Club today.

"At least stop by." Kyouya said, "Your mother sent a package to me for you."

Of course, her mother would never send a package directly to the house, she was too bitter. Kyouya would be her first choice to send stuff too.

"What is it?"

"A guitar."

"Thanks." And she walked off.

Kyouya knew something was up with her, but knew better than to ask about it, she wouldn't tell anyone.

Emi really wanted to talk to someone, not something she did often, but now she really wanted to. She was changing; she felt it. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not yet. There was only one cause of this.

A certain boy.

She skipped by the third music room before anyone else got there and grabbed her guitar and ran for it. Ran straight to the grounds to be alone.

Her guitar was the same as it had been when she left, a little out of tune maybe, but it didn't look like it had sustained any damage on the plane.

Even if she couldn't talk to someone, she had always found it easy to say what she was feeling through playing the guitar.

'Wasted' by Cartel was her song of choice. It was a song about wasting your life.

Very accurate.

When she was finished she looked around, something was rustling in bushes. There weren't any animals on campus, so that meant the only thing that could be in the bushes was a student. It made her nervous. She put her guitar away and stood up to leave and go home.

Someone clapped a hand over her mouth, "Stay still." She struggled against him, but he clasped her arms behind her back and tied them together, releasing her mouth.

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded.

"Just sending a message."

"Ichiro?"

"Sorry sweetheart."

'They were right.' She thought with fear, 'Once yakuza, always yakuza.' She opened her mouth to yell, but tape covered it.

"The Haninozuka, Morinozuka, Souh, and Kichida families have gone against us too long." He whispered.

Emi struggled against him every step of the way to the pond. He put weights on her hands and feet and around her waist. Panic filled her as she realized what he was doing. She had almost drowned as a child and her greatest fear was actually drowning. But he was stronger than her and struggling was just a waste of energy. He pushed her in, face forward, and even though the pond was shallow, she couldn't move, only think.

'They knew, they all knew, but they were protecting me. This rivarlry goes far beyond just the Haninozuka family, it stretches to my family, Tamaki's family and Takashi's family. I wish I had listened.' She was slowly losing conciousness. 'I wish I had a chance to talk to him. . .' and she drifted off.

* * *

**So it's slowly coming to an end. One to two chapters left. **

**'Wasted' by Cartel is a wonderful song, listen to it, it's sad but good. I don't own it either.**

**Please please review! I love hearing what you have to say!**

**~Cloudy**


	9. Changes

**So here's the last official chapter. *sniffles* Enjoy! I don't own anything.**

* * *

There they were.

Face to face.

Emi vaguely remembered waking up outside the pond, looking up at his face. At first, she thought she'd been halucinating, but she could feel his hands on her face. That was what had convinced her she was alive and not in heaven.

She had a towel wrapped around her shoulders and her hair was wet, but it didn't bother her much. He bothered her. How had he, Morinozuka Takashi, done this to her? He was all her problems wrapped into one person. He was the stranger in the trenchcoat, he was the one she thought about all the time.

She felt something about him; she hadn't felt like this in a long time. There was no way she would ever let him know either. She just didn't understand why.

"I give up." She said standing up. He simply looked at her with those endless eyes of his. "I've tried and tried to get your attention, to see what was underneath that stoic shell of yours and I just give up! You are the most infuriating boy I've ever met!" her voice rose over the normal levels of talking, but not to the point of shouting, "I can't get you to speak five words in a sentence, rare smiles, no frowns, no tears, nothing! No matter what I've done I couldn't break through! Congratulations, you are the first time I've ever quit. Every move I make, you don't do anything. . ." her vioce trailed off as the truth dawned on her, "You. . . you. . . knew. . . I can't believe it!" she could have smacked herself in the head. He had never been stupid enough to give her what she wanted. He'd seen right through it all and simply ingnored it because somehow, he knew that was what would bother her most. "Everything Idid, you knew that if you did nothing it would bother me and get through to me, but not me to you. Okay, are you happy? You get to keep your dark mysteriousness and I'll just go on, with my life, acknowleding that I lost.

He raised an eyebrow.

Her lies fell apart again, "Fine! It's going to bother me for the rest of my life! I was beat by you Morinozuka Takashi. I hope you're happy, now you know what I'm like underneath everything."

"I am. I do." Was all he said in reply

She turned, almost to leave, "So, you did notice, you're just that good."

"I am."

"Well, I hope you had an enjoyable time, but I'll be going now." She walked slowly away, contemplating the last two months. Why had he done as he had? Was it a game to him? No, he wasn't that kind of person. And neither was she, not any more. She had changed, no more challenges for her, just her life and how it was supposed to be lived. No more shows of flattery or anything to get attention. She looked back at Takashi when she was halfway to the door, he was watching her with a waiting smile.

"I understand now." She said, "But I have to ask, why?"

"I saw through your lies the first time I saw you."

She smiled, "That's eleven words, go on."

"I knew that your family had probably neglected you, going between paretns all the time, unable to stay in a stable home for longer than a few months before you were shipped off to the other parent. So you did what you could to get from others what your parents never gave you to you. I did notice everything you did to try to get my attention. At first, I was going to let you go on, thinking you'd give up evenutally. But then the thought that you needed help started togrow on me. Kyouya affirmed that fact. So I waited, talking a few times, just to give you hope and keep going until I had the chance to talk to you, or something like that. I didn't really plan ahead that much. It all worked out in the end and here you are, finally realizing who you are and what you need to do to live your life."

"Oh." She said quietly, "Thank you for explaining, I understand now." She took a few steps away, "Thank you, I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

She had her hand on the doorhandle when his hand wrapped around her elbow and pulled her back, "I'm not done yet." He faced her towards him, not letting go of her arm, "The thought that you needed help wasn't the only deciding factor in my descision to help you. As the first two weeks of your attempts went on, I noticed you more and more, and it bothered me. Why you? Why did I notice the way you walked, or the way you run your right hand through your hair when you are really thinking about something? It occurred to me at the end of the month, I was strongly attracted to you, not only physically. And as I started to figure you out, the real you, I started to think that I might actually like you more than I should."

Emi didn't know what to say. While this boy had frustrated her to no end, she couldn't deny she had dreamed about him and thought about him almost every waking moment. But in her mind, her real mind, he had been unreachable to her. She had wondered, late at night, if there was anyone this man had loved, if he could love. Now her question was answered. It was in that moment that she realized she had changed. Her always carefully gaurded heart was breaking.

He watched her carefully, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did for awhile. He'd put himself out there, admitting his feelings like that, and now he was worried he had scared her off. But she made no move to leave, she just stood there, a concentrating look on her face.

"Takashi." She finally managed to say, "For once, I don't know what to say."

"Say what's on you're mind."

"I've never felt like I really liked someone, for fear of having my heart broken, or stolen never to have it returned to me. And honestly, it scares me but I think I might like you more than I should. I mean, why else would I have tried to put so much work into you. And I don't know what to do."

She looked up at him, "Tell me what to do."

He took her face in her hands, "I can't, and I never have been able to tell you what to do. Only you can decide that."

"I don't know what to decide." She looked up at him, "Hold me. Just for a little while."

This was new to her, to both of them. It was right in ways neither of them knew how to put into words.

'Everything is going to be okay now.' She thought, resting her head on his chest.

'Everything is perfect now.' He thought, wrapping his arms around tighter.

'This is all that matters.' They thought, small smiles appearing on their faces.

* * *

When she got home she sought out her father in his study.

He looked up when she entered, "Emiko, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"It's time father." She set her cell phone on the desk, "Do you love me?"

"Of course I do, how can you ask me that?"

"Then call her and fight for me." She sat down and crossed her arms.

Kichida Hiroshi sighed, "I just can't call Carissa right now."

"I'm not going anywhere until you call her."

He knew he wouldn't win, "Fine." He scrolled through her contacts until he found his ex-wife

and found her number. He waited a few rings, "It doesn't look like she's going to answer." But

as soon as the words were out of his mouth, she answered.

"Emi, what are you doing? You're not scheduled to call for another two days."

"Nice to hear from you Carissa." He said.

"Hiroshi? What's this? Why do you have Emi's phone?"

"I have to talk to you Cari."

She was silent for a moment, "Don't call me Cari, Hiro."

He smiled, "Fair enough."

Emi knew it was okay if he was smiling.

"This isn't a social call, is it?"

"No, I'm afraid not. Your daughter came in her and demanded that I 'fight for her'. I think she wants to stay here."

"Let me talk to her."

He handed the phone to his daughter, "Hey mom." She said.

"Emi, are you sure you want to stay in Japan?"

"Mom, I've never been surer."

Her mother sighed, "I guess it's my fault. This means I'll have to come see you."

"You never know mom, you might like living here."

"Put Hiro back on."

Emi handed the phone back to her father, and left the room to let them talk.

Things were definatly going to be better now and she skipped off to tell Kanaye and Kimi. Not to mention call to Takashi.

* * *

**So this is the final chapter. I may put up an epilouge soon. Sequal, probably not, but there's still a chance.**

**But this is the official end.**

**I sncerly hope you enjoyed it all! Look for my next one. . . sometime.**

**Thank you all my wonderful reviewers ^-^. Your reviews all made my days!**

**~Cloudy**


	10. Epilouge: First

**Here's the epilouge, a little short, but it explains a few things.**

**Enjoy!**

**I don't own anything.**

"Emi." A deep voice said.

She turned around and saw Takashi, prepared for his fight with Mitsukuni.

It was the day before graduation, Emi was aware of what Takashi was going to tell Mitsukuni, even though he hadn't told her. It had been two weeks since they hadn't explicitly said that they loved each other, to them, it didn't need to be spoken. They were keeping it a secret, for now at least. Mitsukuni knew, but there was no avoid that. He knew how to keep his mouth shut.

"You'll do fine." She said, "Even if you don't beat him, he'll still listen to you."

"That's not how it works. I have to beat him."

She gave him a small smile, "Try not to hurt him too bad."

"I won't." Emi only knew half the reason he was doing this. His ulterior motive was to tell Mitsukuni that he couldn't spend as much time with him, now that he had Emi. He also felt guilty for not telling her outright that he loved her for the last two weeks.

"Good luck." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

She started to go away, but Takashi grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back. Then he kissed her.

Emi didn't know what to think at first, but she decided she like the feel of him wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer; the way his lips molded with hers perfectly.

As if it was meant to be.

Takashi pulled away, "I have to go." He whispered.

"Yes."

But he didn't let go. They stood there for a while longer.

Finally, they realized that he had to go. They couldn't arrive at the same time, the twins would get suspicious.

Emi was at the fight, but wasn't really paying attention. She was thinking about their first kiss, and what it meant.

Ichiro had fled the country and his family was claiming not to know where he was. Emi didn't doubt that he would be back, but when was the real question. She didn't want to live the rest of her life in fear of Ichiro coming back. But it would be unavoidable until he was caught. So maybe everything wouldn't be fine forever.

At least she had Takashi.

Right now, that was all that mattered.

* * *

In an abandoned house by the Pacific ocean, a man stood by the window. He was planning, his revenge.

* * *

**Sequal is in the planning stages. It won't be a very long, maybe. I don't know yet. But I hope you enjoyed this all!**

**~Cloudy**


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